Storm Landings: Epic Amphibious Battles in the Central Pacific

This is the story of seven epic assaults from the sea against murderous enemy fire Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Each risky battle enhanced the U.S. capability to concentrate overwhelming naval force against a distant island and literally kick down the front door. While the assault forces learned priceless operational lessons from each landing, so did the Japanese. The ultimate U.S. victory in the seven storm landings came at the total cost of 100,000 killed and wounded. The survivors faced the prospect of even bloodier future beachheads against mainland Japan.

Award-winning historian Joseph Alexander relates this extraordinary story with an easy narrative style bolstered by years of analyzing U.S. and Japanese battle accounts, personal interviews with veterans, and his own amphibious warfare experience. Abounding with human-interest stories of colorful web-footed amphibians, his book vividly portrays the sheer drama of these naval battles whose magnitude and ferocity may never again be seen in this world."